The Effortless Quiet Storm Cool of SADE & "Smooth Operator" | New British Canon
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
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Britain is not known for its soul music. But in the 1980s there was a nostalgic wave of British acts that were enthralled by the sound: Phil Collins was covering the Supremes, Soft Cell and Dexys Midnight Runners were in love with obscure R&B 45s and there was an influx of white-fronted plastic soul groups like Spandau Ballet, ABC and late era Roxy Music. But adding some legitimacy and heat to the mix was Sade. Their debut album Diamond Life defined the 80s for many, its warm sensuality the soundtrack for many an intimate moment, while singles like “Your Love Is King,” “When am I Going to Make a Living?” and “The Sweetest Taboo” quiet-stormed the charts. But who was this band? This is New British Canon and this is the story of “Smooth Operator.”
#Sade #QuietStorm #MusicDocumentary
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Fact-checking by Serenity Autumn.
Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine ( / luarbeats )
B-Side - Pen Unubis
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
00:00 Introduction
02:10 Pride & The Origins of Sade The Band
07:05 Writing & Recording Diamond Life
12:14 "There's a Quiet Storm..."
17:16 "I'm Not Very Good at the Business of Being a Pop Star"
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What is your favourite Sade track? You more into "Is It a Crime?" or "By Your Side?" Comment down below!
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No Ordinary Love! Long before Deftones (who are one of my all time favourites) covered it.
Your love is king
"Is It a Crime?"
Grew up with Love Deluxe on loop in my house. No Ordinary Love will always be my favorite.
Paradise
Really speaks to Sade as a person that her band mates speak so highly of her. Too often you see the backing band get salty at how the lead got all the fame but they're out there saying she doesn't get enough credit. Pretty cool
Well, that's simply because she didn't get a big head and screw over/fire her bandmates like so many others did. They're basically the same band now as then.
The original drummer is plenty salty
Sade and Seal: Britain's got talent-ed voices.
Greetings from France to all of the lovers of good music in the USA, the UK and all around the world.
I saw them perform live a few years ago and there seemed to be a lot of fondness between them, with some funny byplay going on between Sade and her bassist Paul Denman during the show.
Sade continues to prove that less is more, especially if you actually have talent.
She doesn't seek the spotlight, and disappears in between projects, living a private life. Whenever she DOES appear, it's all about her music.
Beyoncé was inspired by Sade and Prince in terms of being private and only focused on her music
if you have taste you need less talent
She also disappears because the British press is terrible, and that attacked her mercilessly for... anything and everything.
Thankfully, she was able to persevere and her contract terms give her the ability to vanish as needed.
And I still believe she’s some sort of apparition, some kind of fairy 🧚♀️
How can less be more? More is more.
The U.S. population is 0.4% to 0.6% higher today than it would be if Sadé never made music.
😂
Yeah, I read that study also. Avocadog out here spitting facts. 🔥
And i'm safe to assume many in this comment section wouldn't even be conceived without Sadé
I love that comment!
I’ve heard from people in the UK that Sade isn’t said to be as impactful as she’s/they’ve been in America, which is surprising. Sade is literally beloved by the black community here in America - as evidenced from the references she inspires for rappers and R&B artist alike. I don’t know anyone black who didn’t grow up hearing Sade being played lol
I am as white as a sheet of paper and my mom introduced me to her. She loved "Smooth Operator" because she grew up listening to Nina Simone and similar artists. Sade was/is beloved in my house.
Or even being... made while Sade was playing 🙂
She was a former student at my old school most people who went there wouldn't know
It's the same story with South Africans..we love her music
While she's mixed heritage. Her mother is European.
"Is It a Crime?" is the one song that should've been a huge hit and wasn't. I remember them performing this on "Saturday Night Live" and being blown away.
Agreed, I listed to metal mostly in the 80s but I couldn’t escape their groves, a deeper dive in the 90’s this track in particular stood out. One of their best, so dynamic.
It was a hit on black american radio
wasn’t a hit? it was!
For sure, it's a classic....
I listened to her sing it live on her Soldier of Love tour and it was truly captivating. Everyone stfu and listened while she commanded the stage. My favorite of her songs.
I'm a "No Ordinary Love" man, myself. I could listen to that groove and her gorgeous voice all day, and that's not even getting into the great lyrics. Just a perfect jam.
From the movie "Indecent Proposal" in 1993
Great shout, still listen to it a few times a week.
same
I with you there !
THE BEST.
I remember buying Diamond Life and my classmates making fun of me. After a while everybody came to me asking for borrowing, but I never gave the album away. I had to listen to it at least one time a week. One of just a handful of albums I have a really personal relation to it. Greetings from Germany :)
These albums are incredible
Your Love Is King, Hang On To Your Love. Never As Good As The First Time...wow!
Yes, Diamond Life is a really great album. Greetings from Germany (NRW) to Germany.
my parents bought the vinyl for „Diamond Life“ and I‘m so grateful for them for introducing me to her music (as well as kate bush and many other greats!) Greeting from Bavaria 🫶🏻
Stunning woman, stunning artist. Class act.
For sure 💖
I have travelled the world and, at 56, I have found Sade fans everywhere; from young sommeliers in Portugal, to old Jazz lovers in Japan. She is loved everywhere.
As an 80s child, she helped define that era in my mind.
I loved her then and still do!
Agreed 💖🌞
Sade even now is utterly amazing. The old albums are still so fresh and nothing like it to this day. I will never tire of hearing safes amazing voice
Me either 😯🌞💖
If you’d never said it, I would have never noticed their music was much less technically sophisticated than it sounds like. Goes to show how impeccable taste and efficiency they had in the use of their means. I’ll take a perfect Sade mood for every ten overly complicated jazz noodling.
Good taste IMHO plays a major role in musical impact. You can be the best of players, the best of musicians, and yet be boring. Sade has impecable taste.
Agreed, when I heard that statement I was like "WOW", how could they be better than they were already :)
I was waiting for this video. Sade was and continues to be a slick act. Their influence on contemporary R&B, soul, and I would also say trip hop is absolutely astounding. I hope to give their catalogue a deep dive one day. It’s an act that deserves to canonizes on the same level of 80’s British legends like Joy Division, the Cure, and Duran Duran.
Joy Division doesn't deserve to be listen anywhere, they were obsessed with Nazis even rebranding as New Order. White supremacist music and Sade in the same sentence no thank you
“Cherish the day” is just so beautiful and therapeutic to sing 🎤
Sing it! I find it therapeutic to listen to! Keep well.
@@brazenlilhussy5975 it is , isn’t it ? You keep well too 😊
@@mysticrising1403 I certainly will try.
I remember, here in the states, listening to Sade on the “quiet storm” station. Every time I heard her, I couldn’t turn it off. As good as any soul from the US.
Absolutely. I think if someone doesn't like Sade, they don't like music!
Best concert of my life....September 14, 2001 in Denver.....3 days after 9/11. It was a weird vibe, but at that moment in time we all needed her quiet cool, calm and sophistication. Always been a huge fan.
Sade is an absolute treasure. Brilliance.
Smooth Operator is one of my all time favorite songs ever. Her voice can bring a man to tears. 🤌
Oh yes it can, watch some of those music videos as well…it’s hard not to fall in love with her.
I can't name a favorite Sade song. They are one of the few artists/bands who truly do not have a bad or mediocre song. Every song/album is just a different flavor of Sade. Do you want pure beauty? Is It a Crime. Something to dance to? Nothing Can Come Between Us. Wanna cry? Feel No Pain. Going to war? Soldier of Love. Every Sade song is their best song just in a different way. If you've never heard them. Do yourself a favor and listen. They may change your life.
When it comes to tears, for me that would be Pearls hands down. I had my Sade moment a cpl years ago where I dived in to all the albums, and never heard that song. But when I did, omg, the water kept streaming down my face. That song breaks my heart.
Beautiful song, I agree!@@mx2698
The band themselves are great musicians and her voice just elevates the vibe
their 1996 eponymous album Sweetback is amazing!
Definitely
I saw them in Prague. It was the best experience ever.
They are truly a phenomenal act on their own. One of them had a hand in Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, one of the best neo-soul albums ever made and I'm sure that they wrote and performed with many other famous musicians.
@@forgoogletotrack7181 I'll have to check out that album thanks!
Starting at 12:53 there's an interesting insight into the mentality of the UK music press and the enduring influence of the old class system in public attitudes. It apparently wasn't acceptable for Sade to simply have a different sound and look; people seemed to have had a need to slot the band into a particular place in the class system. Very strange behaviour when viewed from abroad.
But very understandable when in the country.
It seems that in the UK the music press read her as "smooth" and jazzy and so they thought of her as singing anthems for yuppies to drink their cocktails to. In the US context it seems they appreciated her more as a soul artist, a lot by black americans as the influence the video reports there, who had also socially concious moments and perhaps they could read "smooth operator" also as social critique and not so superficially as mere praise of playboys or "When_Am_I_Going_to_Make_a_Living" as working class or precarious youth existentialism and not so superficially as seeing it as yuppies coming to make their fortunes
I just realized the significance of this classification when watching an episode of "This is Pop" recently on the UK BritPOP music scene and how rivalries between Oasis and Blur were pushed by the press within the context of class.
Seems that people love to think in not only musical categories. Makes life easier and less complex. Instead of being happy that a band has a different sound, the publicity tried to squeeze Sade into some mainstream genre. I feel the music press and most professional critics only exists for those who don't care too much about media, those who don't go deeper and those who like to think in simple categories. It's easier when someone else explains you what you should like, listen, read or watch.
You could honestly argue Sade also helped kickstart the vaporwave movement - she is sampled/straight up ripped more than any other artist
I had never heard Sade and when I first heard her here I immediately thought “This sounds like the music sampled for vaporwave!”
I guess you could say that for a lot of soft jazz but I think you have something here.
Actually it's Diana Ross who inspired vaporwave.
She’s absolutely adorable. There will never be another Sade. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
If I can only pick one song, Jezebel would be it. The brilliance of Sade was that she is able to write dark, complex and melancholic music, and somehow pulled it off without being a run of mill pop act, nor having to be an Edgelord metal, or punk band.
Especially the live version from the 2011 live album... it really showcases both Sade's voice but Stuart Matthewman's excellent sax
Yes 💜💜💜
That song always made me, cry. But, in a therapeutic way. So, yes it's brilliant! Point of music... Make ya feel...
Jezebel was something outta this world … it took me a little bit to take to it … but the lyrics the vibe … Lord music speaks from the soul 🌺🍷
Awesome song 🎧 I’d totally forgotten about
King of Sorrow is my favourite Sade track, Lovers Rock was released just after my mother died when I was 3 and it's the first memory of music that I have, their sound has shaped me as a person and I know they'll always be around
I got into Sade after i heard Chino from Deftones naming her as an influence, and hearing their Sade cover. My favorite song from her is probably "Love is Stronger than Pride" but best album is Promise, hands down.
💜 Deftones,💜 Sade
Grew up loving Sade and Deftones are my favorite band for 24 years now, when i first listened to the cover i was so happy. I can also feel Sade's vibe in the chorus of "the spell of mathematics".
Bro same
My gawd…Sade….is…phucking amazing and nothing compares to her!
"When Am I Gonna Make a Living?" Is an underrated song/video, but The Sweetest Taboo is my favorite. I've probably played it over 1000 times and I'm not tired of it. I have her greatest hits CD in my car to lower my blood pressure in bad traffic (seriously).
Drove two hours through white out conditions on Minnesota roads listening to her greatest hits CD lol. Thanks, Sade. 👍
Sade showed up on the scene, looking and sounding like nothing else. That's why they've had success through the years
Sade always wore the iconic 80s tight black leather gloves and red lipstick for her performances. Very alluring and sensual!
What I love about SADE is the fact that she NEVER tried to hide her BRITISH-NESS in her music…I still love to listen to her as I read a novel.❤️😍💪🏽👋🏽
Sade. One of a kind. Absolutely the most gorgeously executed pop-jazz-soul performers I’ve heard. Always emotional, often smooth, but also raw and lovely. The lyrics are always evocative and often moving. They rarely made a misstep. Love everything she has done, and that’s a feat.
Growing up I think my mum owned two albums, Fleetwood mac rumours & Sade Dimond life. I still unashamedly love both.
‘Love Deluxe’ is a phenomenal album.
They outdid themselves with that one!!
Man do I love Sade. The funny thing is, even though I know it's a british act (and a band!), you rightly point out that we Black Americans were the ones to really embrace Sade as our own in the early days. Universally adored by generations of listeners on this side of the pond. As for a favorite, I genuinely dig the entire catalog more or less, but let's go with Stronger Than Pride for the purposes of this comment...
Finally, my people. Lol
Cultural appropriation!
So it took THIS side of the pond to propel Sade properly 🤔. She did rule the fm radio.. I remember well. The song Paradise is an absolute beautiful time machine for my mind.
I have very fond memories of Sade blasting through the house during my childhood. My parents, especially my dad who has a beautiful and diverse collection of music, is a massive fan and definitely turned myself and siblings on to her. It’s nice to see some of the history in this format. The Sweetest Taboo is my favorite!
SAME.
same here, my mom introduced me to her when I was small
Jezebel is my favourite, lovely chorus tone on the guitar playing.
Great ears listen alike 💯
All of them. She is and will remain my favorite artist male or female - PERIOD!
The "Atmosphere" created by Sade's voice,is like being in a perpetual Blissful state...the most confortable, cozy,happy and peacefull "place" you can ever be.
Glorious.
There's no way i could pick a favorite track. Her music goes deep into many areas of my heart. Ive spent long hours on long distance cycling with Sade's sound pushing my efforts further. I fall back on her songs now to press forward with my physical disciplines, her music gives me strength. Many thanks to Sade and her band. Peace and love
Just when I think your powers have reached their peak, you further outdo yourself. Incredible and comprehensive. I always loved Sade, but never knew the context of her achievement, makes me appreciate her even more. Now do SLAYER!!! and how Rick Rubin went from LL Cool J, Run DMC, and Beastie Boys to producing the seminal thrash metal album Reign in Blood.
If you hadn't noticed already, trash theory is all British or at least artists big in Britain.
@@treehousekohtao I didn't realize Husker Du and the Replacements were going to be knighted by the Queen.
@@mrrodriguezHLP Hüsker Du were undoubtedly great but the point of the essay is the alt rock they inspired including pulp, U2, New order, buzzcocks even Robert palmer.
If it's a competition(let's be very clear, it isn't), for every American band covered by trash theory, I can name a hundred brits.
Nah. Don´t do it Thrash theory. Metal sucks.
The music equivalent of a warm bath. Holy crap what a perfect metaphor
This channel is CRIMINALLY underrated! This was amazing! (As usual) and incredibly fun to watch. Sade is legendary and content about her music feels surprisingly rare. Thanks for posting. Millennials especially owe Sade a huge debt of gratitude, since a LOT of us were created because of her music. 😉.
What you said in the start of the video made me realize a lot of the people watching the video were probably concieved to a Sade song.
One of the few singers to not be vocally trained but has a natural voice and beautiful tone 💜which flows out effortlessly
One of THE greatest 80's acts, no doubt about it.
I love their deep dives into dub and trip hop (Slave Song, Flow, Feel No Pain)...it speaks to how gifted and thoughtful the band are...and there is not a better live act on earth.
Growing up as a 90s kid, I always see their mv on music channels but never understood why they are popular in the 80s. But as I grew older in my 30s I suddenly just love their music. Listen to sweetest taboo everyday!
The mini collage at the end chronicling the "Hotline Bling" connection was like traveling through a musical wormhole.
Outstanding work, friend!💙
I had the pleasure of meeting.her and her band .. seriously so kind and easy to talk too .. love her energy 💛
"by your side" is always near and dear to my heart. my mom use to play this record often when I was young, I was always by her side... then when she passed, whenever I hear it I would just break down , in the grocery store, at the gym. I always felt like she was by my side now after passing.
I love you and I miss you, my dear mother. you beautiful soul, you. the tenderest and most loving parts of me came from you.
rest in heaven
11-04-1966 💞 03-23-2003 💔
I love "Love is Stronger Than Pride"'s mood. The song is soft, sad and brings beauty at the same time.
When she hums at the end of the verses?!?!?!?! Like there are whole albums that dont compare to those subtle hums lol
Not to mention the lyrics themselves are just outstanding
@@made.fresh.daily. Yes... Those hums and even the keyboard humming gives me shivers!
@@made.fresh.daily. Definitely!
I have always loved this song! It sounds like someone's heartbeating. Prince loved it, too. 🥰
Oddly enough, my favourite Sade tracks are "Is it a crime?" and "Never as good as the first time."
By far the sexiest and most sensuous singer of many generations.
I had to laugh out loud when I heard the band talking about how they really aren't "good musicians." I've watched their live performances and thought they were one of the most amazingly talented and tight bands I've ever seen. Their 2011 concert tour videos are just amazing (Soldier of Love, etc). I guess that says something profound about what real talent is. It also helps explain why they stayed together so long. Perfection.
Well after that first album they toured a lot and BECAME much better musicians!
"Keep Looking" is by far my favorite Sade track. I'm surprised people don't talk about it more.
💯💯💯
I love the stripped down arrangement, and that percussion pattern. And the lyrics are the very best kind of simple and relatable and inspiring.
Keep Looking is such a banger! One of my favorite Sade tracks and I love them all. I'm still trying to find a copy of "Stronger Than Pride" on vinyl that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I was lucky to find Diamond Life and Promise in the dollar bin right before the vinyl resurgence. Miss those days.
@@laidback93 Yeah, I'm lucky I still have the vinyl my mother bought back in like '88.
Yes in the 80s many called it baby making music.
“Is It A Crime?” is an absolute EPIC... The SEXIEST voice I've ever heard.
In 2000 my mother was in a coma -the Lover's Rock album was an anchor for my soul.
Her voice is like liquid gold. I can only imagine a session at Japanese club, smoky, glass of whisky, lots of cigarette.
Every 10 years or so I look forward to a Sade album! She makes smooth and sexy seem effortless.
As a massive Sade fan with my first ever vinyl album being from Sade in the 80s, I was privileged to have VIP tickets to her last tour in UK at Londons O2. So beautiful her songs herself being a beauty to behold, her and the bands sound will be forever ingrained in my being.
Favourite track? Hmm this is very difficult but has to be "Cherish the day" ❤ thank you for a great life of music Sade.
I'm a metalhead and love Sade.
Cherish the day and paradise are on repeat. Timeless, clean and groovy. 🙌🏾🥳💚
I just love her. Such a pure artist, full stop.
No Ordinary Love is my favorite song, but I adore Like a Tattoo, I Never Thought I'd See the Day, and King of Sorrow (the last one got me into the band!)
I have loved Sade since I was about 10. The kids at my school would laugh at me. There were only a couple of black kids at my school and I can remember singing her. I was also love with George Benson. So much my teacher add On Broadway to our spring concert. Lol. This was 1995 the year of the Spice Girls and Rock Jock cds in PE class. But to answer your question hands down favorite song "By Your Side!" That was supposed to be my first dance. My hubby forgot sent in another one. We told the DJ and he still screwed it up. I had that planned since the first time I heard it at 10. 5 years later I still play it and my hubby and I dance to it. Random fact her last tour was with John Legend. I had a date but he backed out. Tell me why my grown ass cried. Still salty. Love your channel. New subscriber. Keep up the great work.
I love Sade's music especially the albums "Stronger Than Pride" (1988), "Love Deluxe" (1992) and "Diamond Life" (1984).
i can't believe i'm just learning they were the only female-fronted band to perform at live aid! it's like learning about skunk anansie headlining glastonbury, had no idea until your video on them, these curious facts just casually brushed under the carpet
Have ALWAYS loved her voice and those bass lines...
Sade is my single favorite musical act of all time. No other musicians work puts me in a good mood like Sade. And the fact that she's in her own lane and does things at her own pace just adds to the greatness.
The band saying that their greatest strength is that they were good but not great is the definition of "Perfect is the enemy of good."
She is the best for all time. End
Sade is just simply phenomenal and really underrated, i love her
1984-1985 was a Magic 🪄 organic mixing bowl of New music Talent , the perfect storm for music artistry , this kind of thing happens once in a hundred years .. I’m so very glad , I was there to experience first hand . As this music lit my sole for the rest of my life ☀️🥰 Sade was my match flame .
13:25 - lemme just stop you there. “Sophisti-pop” wasn’t a name that appeared for this stuff until the 2010s. It was just pop back then.
You’re mini documentaries are peerless my friend. Love your work, please keep them coming.
“Tar Baby” was the basis for the first track off of Macintosh Plus’s Floral Shoppe “ブート” [Boot]
I was born in 86, my parents loved her. It's an essential part of my early childhood's soundtrack. So glad you made this video
So you’re saying you were conceived to Sade?
@@RockyScorcese Lol never thought about that, but probably!
she talks so intricately and gently it’s beautiful to see that i genuinely could hear her talk about anything and still fall in love
I never really liked Sade stuff when it came out, mostly because of over exposure, especially on radio one. But in the last 10 years I have very much come to love it. They were always unique, iconoclastic and did it all their own way without flogging a dead horse. Even the love deluxe album was all class. She is a British national treasure.
This series is helping explore my taste for British music. The way you break these songs down is quite immaculate!
First three albums are worth listening to completely.
My favorite song from them is “love is stronger than pride”
💯💯💯
It's not my favorite of hers but I love it and it brings back wonderful memories of this US college student visiting London in May 1988 when Stronger Than Pride album was released and poster ads announcing its release were everywhere and Capitol One Radio played it frequently.
"Like a Tattoo" is my favorite Sade song. What is even better than that is the live version of that song.
I don't know how, but she's able to establish a huge stage presence with understated movements and a very non-flashy performance style.
Shes a real woman, ascension.
Shocked and inspired by the fact that nun of them were great musicians “what made us good was being naive and young not knowing anything” beautiful
I remember my aunts going crazy over her when I was a kid. She was so beautiful and I think she was one of my first crushes growing up.
As a Hip-hop Head I'd say my favorite is SadeVillain the Sade MF DOOM remix. It warms your soul and exercises your mind.
She was one of my first gay crushes, the other being Cyndi Lauper. SHe was stunningly beautiful and had the voice of a Goddess. She still is/does
When I was old enough to start listening to modern music in the mid-90's, "Smooth Operator" was still being played (albeit usually late night) on commercial pop stations, unironically. And then when "Missing" by Everything But The Girl came out, everyone still had all the context we needed to love it and make it a hit, because it basically tapped into a similar vibe, just in a minor key.
I saw here at a student’s union bar in York in 84/85 and recall how she stood out from the rest of the crowd. She stood alone in the audience with her minder, a man twice the size of anyone else there.
She had an elegance about her, but also insecure and waif like.
I grew to love her music in the late 80’s and thanks for the memories and clarity of your video👍
Saw them in Copenhagen in 2010. Amazing performance. Love that the band has stayed together.
Also, yeah, probably By Your Side.
Ugh, I’m so jealous! What awesome experience that must have been!!
for two decades 'No Ordinary Love' was my favorite track. Today and in my third decade of life, I've put it out of the mold of ranking and tagging. It's too precious to grade. With that being said, I'll rank my favs as 'Haunt Me' at 1 and 'Like a Tattoo' at 2; Assuming 'No Ordinary Love' is the light that enables us to read the rankings!
‘lovers rock’ is one of my favourite sade songs that I think doesn’t get talked about enough
The feeling I get with Sadé: I’m in some out of the way place like Dijon, Marburg, Imperia, somewhere nobody usually goes, and I’m in this little night club. It’s late, and there is a little stage, and then this amazing band comes out and just played something wonderful. That ever happen to you? Well, that it the feeling I get with Sadé.
The elegance Sade carries is just beyond beautiful. Her musicians are also great. I love her music and how she doesn't care about being famous. Love that!
Bullet Proof Soul & Cherish the Day are standout tracks for me but have been a fan from day 1 and still am
Extremely difficult to pick one but for me it'll be Cherish the day. She really left a mark in my youth!